GANGS of hooligans heaped shame on soccer as they clashed on the day of Tranmere Rover's match with Wrexham.

The thugs, most of whom never go to games, fought on a train station platform as families with young children fled in terror.

A few hours later they organised another clash in Chester city centre, trading kicks and punches as police tried to stop the violence.

This morning officers raided homes across Wirral and parts of Cheshire after a lengthy undercover operation to identify the hooligans.

At around 7am, one police team pulled into the affluent Polden Close, in Ledsham, Cheshire, to arrest a man believed to be at the forefront of the violence.

The 33-year-old suspect answered the door at his #200,000 detached home in his shorts and was led away in handcuffs.

He hurled abuse after answering the door. His cars, an Alfa Romeo and a Citroen Picasso, parked on his driveway, were also searched.

Similar operations were carried out across the area. They focused on Tranmere, Prenton, Rock Ferry and Birkenhead.

Officers were also seizing mobile phones believed to be used to organ-ise hooligan battles and paperwork relating to violence.

Computer equipment used by the network was also confiscated.

Nineteen people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder and police launched an immediate hunt for four other suspects.

Police said today that three of those arrested at Tranmere were season ticket holders.

On the day of the violence on Saturday September 27 last year, police arrested 10 people who were later released on bail.

Detectives are now hoping to secure convictions and lengthy football bans against all the thugs.

That would stop them from going anywhere near a soccer stadium around the time of a game.

Detective Chief Inspector Bill McWilliam, who led the operation, said: "This is a very successful operation and follows a lot of hard work since the violence after the match.

"These people are not football supporters and they latch onto a club so they can organise fights.

"They have to be kept away from the game and honest supporters who follow the team." The Tranmere clash with Wrexham was classified by police as a C grade category game meaning they used the maximum amount of resources available.

There was a history of organised fights before and after games stretching back many years.

For safety reasons the kick-off was moved from 3pm to noon in a bid to cut hooligans' drinking time and an Everton fixture that day was moved to the Sunday.

In the morning officers were told a train with around 80 Wrexham followers, many known hooligans, was heading to Rock Ferry.

A team of officers on foot and on horses met them off the train and escorted them to the ground.

The game passed peacefully and so did the Wrexham mob's journey back to Rock Ferry station. But as they arrived a train from Birken-head pulled in. On board was a 30-strong gang of Tranmere thugs.

They stormed the platform and began fighting with the Wrexham crew.

The clash had been organised in the morning during a series of mobile phone calls between the gangs' ringleaders.

CCTV stills from a camera which captured the train station brawl show police separating the gangs.

A total of 12 people were arrested. The Wrexham fans were put on a train under British Transport Police escort.

But both sides were determined to cause more mayhem and arranged another meet in Chester city centre.

The gangs fought and blood was spilled in the middle of a busy street as traffic came to a standstill.

DCI McWilliam said: "The meeting was arranged using mobile phone calls and they really wanted to get to each other.

"It caused a lot of problems and put other people in danger. There were adults and children at the train station.

"They could have been hurt and officers had to keep the two gangs apart to make sure they were safe.

"We made arrests and put the people from Wrexham on the train. There were British Transport Police officers to escort them.

"But they got off in Chester and we later found out that the two gangs who fought at the station had done the same there."

After the day of violence police launched Operation Advance to bring all the culprits to justice.

They studied CCTV films from Rock Ferry station and Chester City centre.

A number of ringleaders were identified and detectives used a of methods to find them. They also worked alongside Tran-mere Rovers chiefs who they today praised for helping with the inquiry.

DCI McWilliam said: "We have a great relationship with the club and they do not want them in any way associated with Tranmere Rovers.

"They are not part of football and every honest fan would agree with that.

"It is not a widespread problem and there are no ongoing concerns with a hooligan element at Tranmere.

"But we will never let anybody get away with using football as a way of having a fight and being violent."

Tranmere Rovers Chairman Lorraine Rogers said: "These people are in no way football fans.

"This was an exceptional operation put on by the police. It is a case of them and the Home Office sending out a strong message ahead of this summer's Euro 2004 football tournament."

* Plague ruins it for fans>>>>

Plague ruins it for fans>

TODAY is the first in a series of hard-hitting articles about the scourge of hooliganism that still lingers in football.

The ECHO will explode the myth that thugs stopped operating on match days in the 1970s and 1980s.

While the problem has largely been dealt with inside Premiership football grounds, it still exists on the streets after games every week at clubs across the country.

It is the hidden sickness that police are cracking down on, dedicating hundreds of hours to undercover investigations and huge amounts of resources to making match days enjoyable for the thousands of real fans.

In a six-day exposure, we will reveal how a hardcore minority of thugs are attaching themselves to Merseyside's football clubs.

Many of them rarely go to games but view soccer as a way of getting together a gang to organise clashes on match days.

Police say they are vowing to put them behind bars.

Tomorrow, we will lift the lid on the thugs who have caused so much trouble that they are being banned from all sporting stadiums.

We will tell you who is in the the sights of football intelligence officers and how they gather the evidence to nail the yobs.

The ECHO will also tell how the hooligans operate in a sophisticated manner and how they have links to other criminal activity involving football.

We will also show how supporters can help police stamp out the problem.